LEARN & APPRECIATE

Villa Della Torre hosts ’100 years after the Russian Revolution’

A hundred years after the Russian Revolution and twenty-five years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number of crucial questions remain to be answered: What was the role of the October Revolution in history? What impact did it have in Italy, in the West and in the rest of the world? In his book ‘La forza del mito. La Rivoluzione Russa e il miraggio del socialismo’, Marcello Flores has no doubt: the creation of the first socialist state paradoxically limited the success of socialism itself and the cathartic project of overthrowing the so-called ‘capitalist system’.
This is the theme of discussion on Thursday, 23rd November, starting at 6.45 pm, at Villa Della Torre Allegrini.
The imposition of Soviet communism as the only possible successful stategy ended up extinguishing the most authentic revolutionary drives - due to dogma in defence of the USSR and the need for a strong state with obvious expansionist ambitions. This thesis, still to be thoroughly explored, will be discussed by Marcello Flores and Aldo Ferrari, another brilliant intellectual and professor of the History of Russian Culture at the University of Cà Foscari in Venice. The music and poetry of the Revolution will provide an evocative framework for the evening organized at the splendid 16th century Villa Della Torre, in the hope of shedding new light on the many facets of an era that was as heroic and tragic, as it was full of hope and drama. The theme is certainly as complex as it is impossible to reduce to any banal exemplification.
Marcello Flores taught Contemporary History and Comparative History at the University of Siena where he also ran the Master’s Course in Human Rights and Genocide Studies at the University of Trieste.
Aldo Ferrari teaches Armenian Language and Literature, History of the Caucasus and History of Russian Culture at the University of Cà Foscari in Venice and is Director of the Research Programme on Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia at the Institute for International Political Studies, ISPI, in Milan.
The programme of the event:
6pm Guided tour of Villa Della Torre Allegrini
6.45pm Introduction by Giancarlo Mastella and Gianni Moriani
7pm Contributions by MARCELLO FLORES AND ALDO FERRARI
8.15pm Aperitif in the Sea Monster Fireplace Room, 16th century
8.45pm Dinner in the Devil’s Fireplace Room, 16th century (by invitation only)
Poetry chosen and recited by Alessandro Anderloni
Musical accompaniment with music from the era.